The Elon Challenger
ELON CHURCH OF CHRIST
New Hope, Alabama
Seeking to challenge your interest in things
spiritual & eternal (Eph. 6:10-18).
Volume 14 Number 1
September, 2016
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Table of Contents
“For I Have Given You an Example”———Dylan Stewart
Applying God’s Word———-Mike Johnson
Points to Ponder———-Unknown
Safe Preaching———-Robert Craig
Barabbas & Us———-Alex Munoz
Loneliness———-Wayne S. Walker
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“For I Have Given You an Example”
Dylan Stewart
In John 13, we see Christ, as he did throughout his life, provide his apostles with an example of how they needed to conduct their lives. For example, in John 13:15, after washing Peter’s feet, Christ states, “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” This concept is found in other areas of the Bible as well. For instance, we see in 1 Peter 2:21 that “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” We also learn in passages such as 1 John 2:5-6 that we must pattern our lives by Christ’s example, “whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” Since we are to walk as Christ walked, we too are obligated to be an example to others, just as Christ is our example.
How can we become a significant influence and example like Christ? We must be sure to sincerely love those we want to help in righteousness so they can begin to develop confidence in God’s love. For so many in the world, the first challenge in accepting the gospel is to develop faith in a Father in Heaven, who loves them perfectly. It is easier to develop that faith when they have friends or family members who love them in a similar way. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul encourages Timothy to “be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 2:21). Today, Christians should pattern their lives in a way that reflects Paul’s words. If we do so, we will be in harmony with God’s will because we must not only be hearers of the word, but doers of the word as well (1 John 1:5, Colossians 3:12-17, James 1:22 & 25, James 2:8).
We best serve our Father in Heaven by righteously influencing others and serving them. The greatest and most perfect example who ever walked the earth is our Savior, Jesus Christ. His mortal ministry was filled with teaching, serving, and loving others. He sat down with individuals who were judged to be unworthy of His companionship. He loved each of them. He discerned their needs and taught them His gospel. He invites us to follow His perfect example. Consider Christ’s admonition in Matthew 5:48, where he provides Christians with our most difficult challenge. He tells us, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” If we follow Christ’s example by sharing our love, trust, and knowledge of truth with others, then we will be similar to Christ when he washed Peter’s feet.
“So when He [Christ] had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:12-15).
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Applying God’s Word
Mike Johnson
People often hear the Word of God but are not willing to obey it. Some may intend to obey, but they never seem to get around to it. It is not enough to simply hear or even know God’s Word: we must be willing to obey it.
Notice an interesting comparison made in James 1:22-25.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Imagine a man looking into a mirror before he leaves his house every morning seeing things such as a crooked tie, messed up hair, food on his face, and his shirt unbuttoned. But all he does is looks; he never makes any changes.
Similarly, a lot of people are doing the same thing with the Word of God. They look into the mirror of God’s Word, but when they see certain aspects of their life lacking, they make no changes. God’s Word must be applied for it to do any good.
Consider the following story called, It Must Be Applied.
A gospel preacher met an acquaintance, a soap manufacturer, on the street. All about the two men were evidences of worldliness and sin, in the flashing signs advertising liquor, in the shadowy stairways leading to questionable places of amusement, and even in the language tossed into the air by a careless throng of pedestrians.
“Your religion hasn’t done any good, otherwise there would be no sinful people like we see here,” said the friend to the preacher.
As they walked on, they came near a little boy playing in the gutter, his hands muddy, his clothes filthy–and the preacher pointed him out:
“Your soap hasn’t done any good, or else this child would not be so dirty.”
“But, of course, the soap has to be applied before it will do any good,” replied the man.
“How true,” the preacher answered, “and so does religion have to be applied to the hearts and lives of sinners before it will do them any good!”
(author unknown)
In Luke 6:46 Jesus said, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say.” It is important for us to not just hear but also to obey.
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Points to Ponder
- All people make mistakes; that’s why they put erasers on pencils.
- The average church has too many bystanders and not enough standbyers.
- Some people are like buzzards; they never go near a church unless someone dies.
- Prejudice is a great time-saver; it enables a man to form opinions without bothering to get the facts.
- It is proper to be on the right track, but if you sit down there you’ll get run over.
- The sermon will be much better if you listen as a Christian rather than as a critic.
- There is a high cost to low living.
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Safe Preaching
Robert Craig
It’s not always safe to be a preacher. That is, a preacher who preaches what people really need. Herod the tetrarch was living in a state of adultery. Some say he was guilty of incest. Maybe a little of both. But he was living with his brother’s wife, Herodias, and John said to him, “It is not lawful for thee to have her” (Matthew 14:4).
Some of our present day preachers say, “John shouldn’t have judged him.” In fact, just down the street from me, a church advertises on their reader board, “Come. We neither judge nor condemn.” Well, Herod had judged himself. He’s the one who was the adulterer. Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” John taught, “Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.” The fruits he saw here was rebellion to God’s law of marriage.
There are so many today that are living in rebellion to God’s law of marriage that it is not wise for preachers to say anything about it, so they remain silent and accept anything into their fellowship that comes along.
John had a mission. That was to call people back to God. Preachers today have the same mission; call people back to God. Herod laid hold of John and put him in prison. He would have put him to death but he feared the people. Salome, the daughter of Herodias, danced before Herod and pleased him immensely. So much so, that he promised her anything. At the instruction of Herodias, Salome requested the head of John. Her request was granted and John lost his head all because he had enough courage to preach what he knew would please God. He could say with the apostle Paul, “Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel.” I believe he could also say with Paul, “I have fought a good fight….henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.”
It’s not always safe to preach the truth and, sad to say, most present-day preachers have learned that lesson.
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Barabbas & Us
Alex Munoz
Pilate had a decision to make. And, it turns out, this decision would have the biggest impact on the world in which he lived and in every generation since. Even casual readers of the Bible know what Pilate ultimately decided: to condemn Jesus to death. That fateful choice ensured not only that Jesus would die, but that He would die one of the cruelest and most painful deaths one can imagine.
Pilate made a choice to end Jesus’ life. Had he elected to go another route, Barabbas would have died, and justice would have been served. Barabbas was a notorious prisoner (Matthew 27:16) who had committed murder in the rebellion (Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19). If there was ever a man deserving of the death penalty it was Barabbas; after all, he had taken the life of a human. If there was ever a man who was undeserving of the death penalty or any type of rebuke it was Jesus. In the place of taking life, He gave life (Lazarus in John 11). In the place of promoting rebellion against the Roman Empire, He taught others to pay taxes to Caesar (Matthew 22:21).
Pilate had a decision to make, but it should not have been a difficult one. His two options could not be more different and Pilate was aware of these differences (Matthew 27:23). By Pilate’s decision to wash his hands clean of the decision (Matthew 27:24, 25) he elected to take the coward’s way out and had Jesus crucified.
What must Barabbas have thought? Could a heart where rage and hate formerly dwelt have felt gratitude at this moment, or at the very least felt a sigh of relief? An exoneration did not take place here, for he was a guilty man, but that he enjoyed all the freedoms of someone formerly unjustly incarcerated cannot be denied.
Personally, I have a very difficult time attempting to understand how Barabbas felt: I have never been to prison (at least, not on the other side of the bars) and my life has never before hung on the whim of blood-thirsty crowd, so I struggle to relate with this notorious felon. I am sure most reading this understand my plight.
Yet, as I look more carefully at his situation, I begin to see some similarities of which I am none too proud. Just as Barabbas was rebellious, I have been rebellious. Just as Barabbas was a murderer, I have been a murderer.
Barabbas rebelled against the Roman Empire through the insurrection. I have been rebellious against God. Romans 3:9, 10 speaks of my rebellion. “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’”
Barabbas took precious human life. I have taken precious life. Acts 2:36 was spoken to the Jews of Peter’s day, but could easily apply to myself as well. “Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Do you see yourself in Barabbas too? Have you rebelled against God? Are you guilty of putting Jesus on the cross because of your sins (Hebrews 6:6)? If you can see yourself in Barabbas, and I think you can, then you also can see what the penalties for these transgressions are. Like Barabbas, we were on death row, simply waiting for the day of our execution.
This is where the story changes. Yes, Pilate helped along the decision, but the decision to save us from our sins was made long before Pilate. This is the story of salvation. An innocent man (Jesus) takes the penalty for the guilty man (Barabbas). Romans 5:8 summarizes our salvation very well. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The innocent One who gives life to all, dies for the guilty one who takes life. What a marvelous story of love!
I hope we all praise God for what He has done for us and what He does for us! We cannot repay such love.
As you ponder the story of Barabbas, please don’t fail to see your own guilt as well. We scorn at the likes of men like Barabbas, but when we compare ourselves to him see more similarities than differences. Of course, the most obvious similarity is our need for a Savior who can remove our sin. Also, let us never allow the death of Jesus to become commonplace. May we all live with the gratitude He is owed and the love He deserves.
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Loneliness
Wayne S. Walker
Have you ever been lonely? I dare say that you have. Loneliness is a feeling that is common to all humans at one time or another in their lives. Webster defines “loneliness” as the state of being “without company, lone, sequestered or secluded from society, solitary, not associated with human beings”; and further, “conscious of and depressed at being alone.” Everyone of us, I am sure, has found himself (seemingly, at least) forsaken by others, left out, all by himself–in a word, lonely. Even great men of God have suffered these circumstances (cf. Elijah in 1 Kings 19:1-18). Since the Bible is able to furnish us completely and reveals God’s provisions for all things pertaining to life and godliness, we can know that the Lord has an answer for this problem.
After God created Adam, He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18), and so He made woman as a help meet for him. Marriage is one of God’s ways to meet the human need for companionship. As the husband leaves his father and mother to cling to his wife, loving her as his own body, and as the wife reverences, submits to, and loves her husband (see Eph. 5:21-33), they make possible for each other the most intimate kind of association known to humanity and thus complement each other’s needs. Those who, because of death, unavoidable separation, unwilled divorce, or simply not being able to find the right mate, can understand the loneliness involved in being “single.” Certainly, marriage will not solve all of a person’s problems–it may even create a few of its own; but it does demonstrate that two heads can be better than one in solving those problems.
It is within this family relationship that God has made possible the proper rearing of children. The human child, unlike the baby animals, is totally helpless at birth and continues to need attention for approximately sixteen to eighteen years or more of its life. Parents are told to take care of both the physical needs of their children (2 Cor. 12:14; 1 Tim. 5:8) and for their spiritual needs as well (Prov. 22:16; Eph. 6:4). In fact, modern sociologists tell us that the family unit is the single most important factor in the “socialization” of the child. When one has been deprived of his familial ties by being either orphaned or bereft of his marriage partner, Christians are told “to visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions” (James 1:27).
In gospel work, there is likewise a need for companionship. When the Lord gave the seventy disciples a limited commission to preach to the Jews, He did not send them out each one on his own but “two by two” (Luke 10:1). It seems He recognized the advantages of being together. Even the apostle Paul chose one or more traveling companions for his preaching trips (Acts 13:1-3; 15:40-41; 16:1-3; 20:4). In fact, when he came to Corinth alone, even though he lived with Aquila and Priscilla, it was not until Silas and Timothy came to him from Thessalonica that he felt “pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ” (Acts 17:14-15; 18:1-5). And how many times in his letters did he commend his “fellow-workers” in the Lord? Faithful men need to have sound teachers on which they can rely for strength and help when needed (2 Tim. 2:2). We should never expect gospel preachers, or anyone else, to go forth and do the Lord’s work all by themselves; they need our wholehearted support and assistance (Gal. 6:6)
Another of God’s means for association is the local congregation. We know that first-century Christians “came together” for worship and Bible study (Acts 20:7). Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us that we ought to consider one another and stimulate each other to love and good works, not neglecting our assembling together, but using our meetings to exhort one another (see also Heb. 3:13). Yet New Testament disciples associated with their brethren socially as individual members as well as congregationally. Paul tells us to “be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another” (Rom. 12:12). If I want to associate with the finest people on earth, I will find them in the Lord’s church. Christians are asked to “use hospitality one to another without grudging” (1 Pet. 4:9). Brethren in the early church saw the benefits of both “continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house” (Acts 2:46).
But above all else, when we feel lonely, we can turn to Jesus Christ. As long as we continue to go about doing His will, He has said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). Regardless of how small our assemblies may be, we are told that if even “two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). Our Savior’s promise in scripture is “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5). When Paul seemed so lonely and discouraged in Corinth, the Lord reminded him, “I am with thee” (Acts 18:9-10). Whenever we feel alone, forsaken by earthly comrades, frustrated by our apparent solitude, it is reassuring to realize what a constant friend and companion we have in Jesus (2 Tim. 4:9-17).
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself” (Rom. 14:7). God created man as a social creature with a desire for human companionship and has provided several avenues to fulfill that need on different levels. Happy is the one who has a loving husband (or wife) and family; the preacher who is blessed with faithful fellow-helpers in his work; the Christian who is a member of a close-knit congregation; and the individual who recognizes the personal relationship he can have with a caring Shepherd. Indeed, “two are better than one” (Eccl. 4:9-12). It was T.O. Chisholm who wrote, “Be with me, Lord, when loneliness o’ertakes me, When I must weep amid the fires of pain; And when shall come the hour of ‘my departure’ For ‘worlds unknown,’ O Lord, be with me then.”
Guardian of Truth
(December 16, 1982)
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The Elon Challenger is published monthly by the church of Christ meeting at 4021 Hobbs Island Road in Owens Cross Roads. The mailing address is PO Box 149, New Hope, AL, 35760 where any comments, questions, or requests for further information can be sent. The Challenger is also distributed monthly to the Elon congregation as an eight page, paper publication. The editor is Mike Johnson.
The web site address is www.elonchurchofchrist.com.
Evangelist & Editor: Mike Johnson
www.seekingthingsabove.org